Little Toe,
For me to relate to anyone being "Christ like" I would have to believe that Christ of the bible actually existed. I don't. Just as I don't believe we are all in a pile of shit because a talking snake told a naked lady to eat a piece of fruit.
That's where this whole concept of original sin and Christ ransom started. It is the first scene of the first act of the whole play. The rest of the story hinges on it. If it's bullshit, the whole story is bullshit.
If I am going to take a journey somewhere I need to know the place I am going to actually exists. To find that out I look on a map, if it's not there I look at another map. If it isn't there it causes doubt. If people tell me it's there because they heard about it in a story, that isn't enough to convince me. If people tell me it's there because they believe it's there and I should just have faith it is there I still don't buy it. If they tell me how beautiful it is there and how happy I will be once I get there, it all sound nice, but I still don't buy it.
If they tell me a book says that it is there because a monkey drew a picture of it using magical tomato juice as ink, It doesn't impress me. If I pick up several books that explain the mystical qualities of the magic tomato juice ink and how a monkey drawing with tomato juice can never lie because an all powerful Kangaroo sent him, I start to look around to see if I am standing in the middle of a mental ward.
The story about creation and Adam and Eve has so many holes in it I cannot with any kind of logical or rational mind believe it. Now if I can't buy into that first story, how can I buy into the story of Christ? How can I feel safe about the hero if I don't fear the bad guys and believe they actually exist? The story about the talking snake and bad fruit choices makes about as much sense to me as the monkey and magical tomato juice.
As the well know philosopher Kierkegaard said "you cannot use logic and reasoning to explain Christianity [and he was a devote Christian) what else is left? Faith? Sorry, I need a little more than "trust me" to buy anything.
I am not easily conned even though I have been in the past. My level of listening to someone saying "trust me" goes down every time I see someone being conned. I see religion as the biggest con job ever perpetrated on human kind and thats all religions not just christanity.
Starting at the beginning of anything will give you big clues about what ever follows. Read as much as you can about all the major religions and their origins and you will see that. If you can't then so be it. Most Christians (I have known) do not care to look at all the road maps and are just happy going for the ride. They simply have faith they will get to the place they have been told about by the monkey and magical tomato ink book. As long as they don't try and run over me on their trip, I really don't care. If they do, I'll try and get out of the way or in extreme cases at least slash their tires.
Kierkegaard was right. He was also somewhat of bright man who is considered the champion of Christians in the realm of modern philosophy. If you read about his life instead of just reading what he wrote, you will find out he was mentally abused by his fundamentalist father and gave up the woman he loved because he didn't have the balls to be totally honest with himself. He simply bought into what his abusive old man told him and he died a very unhappy man. The sad thing is, he didn't know he was unhappy, he just throught he was doing what was right. Kind of like being a JW isn't it?
Dave
